The use of bird feeder assemblies is well known. Such feeder assemblies come in many shapes and configurations and are used to provide conventional feed to birds. In the experience of this inventor, many other foods can be used to attract specific bird species. For example, jelly and orange halves can be used to attract orioles and purple finches. Meal worms can be used to attract blue birds. Other non-traditional foods can be used as well, including other fresh fruits, eggs and egg shells, cereal, cheese, pastas and rice. Such foods are not well suited, however, for conventional gravity-fed bird feeder assemblies.
In the experience of this inventor, other conventional bird feeder assemblies are typically configured to be mounted to the top of a post or hung from any number of stationary objects including tree limbs, roof overhangs, and the like. Conventional bird feeder assemblies can even be hung from shepherd's hooks of the type that are used in yards and gardens to suspend a wide variety of decorative items from the hook, although the height of the hook may not be practical due to other raiders of such feeders including squirrels, raccoons and the like.
A typical shepherd's hook includes a relatively long and upright staff. At a bottom end of the staff is a secondary structure for securing the hook in the ground. At a top end is an inverted U-shaped portion which leads to a smaller U-shaped portion. The smaller U-shaped portion is used to hang any number of items from it in a decorative fashion. One example of such a hook is illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 6,588,723 to Moran, Ill.
In the experience of this inventor, however, no use of the inverted U-shaped portion of the shepherd's hook has been used for mounting a bird feeder assembly to it in a way that does not require the modification or alteration of the shepherd's hook structure.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a new and useful bird feeder assembly that can be used as a complementary functional and decorative item when attached to the uppermost inverted U-shaped curved portion, or apex, of a typical shepherd's hook or, alternatively, to the vertical portion of the typical shepherd's hook. It is another object of the present invention to provide such an assembly that can be quickly and easily attached to the shepherd's hook and that is aesthetically pleasing. It is yet another object of the present invention to provide such a bird feeder assembly that is easy to refill with bird food including conventional bird food such as seeds as well as non-conventional bird food such as mealworms, fruit and the like, to attract different species of birds to the assembly.